Phantom Ache
by Bruce's Bat Cave
Summary: Damon, watching Alaric die, is consumed with too many emotions. How will he deal? I do not own the Vampire Diaries.
1. Initial Shock

For the first time in what was a very long existence, Damon was scared. He was scared without abandon and certainly without hope. He cluctched Alaric's greyed body to his chest tightly.

"You're not dead, you're not dead," It was a mantra of ill-hope. He clutched to the freyed ends of whatever hope their was for Elena's life. The ends were becoming more and more unwound as Alaric's body become greyer, more papery.

A chocked sob caught in the Salvatore's throat, coming out as more of a agonized squeel than anything. He began slowly rocking back and forth, the body of his once best friend still clenched feebly in his grasp.

Alaric was gone, he wouldn't return. There was no magic spell to bring him back anymore, he wouldn't do that to him anyways. Not only was Alaric gone, but as was Elena. Sweet, judgy little Elena.

Damon was shaking almost to control now, he could hear all these voices in his head. They swept away his sanity and replaced it with themselves.

_It's your fault you know._

_You could have saved her._

_She never cared, anyway._

_"IT'S ALWAYS GOING TO BE STEFAN!" _The last one bellowed, a phantom ache of what had happened that night rippled through Damon's body and he let out an agonized scream, dropping Alaric's body and standing at attention.

He moved around the bunker frantically, throwing things around, dismantling anything he could find. He wanted to get his adrenaline pumping, he wanted to forget where he was, what was happening. No, he didn't want to. He _needed _to. He needed to feel that blissfully dull and numb sensation he had felt when he first came to Mystic Falls.

He dropped to the ground, letting greif overcome him in that brief moment. Soon, he could have to return to Mystic Falls. He had to comfort his brother and face whatever was waiting.


	2. Emotions

Damon 'vamped' through the forest, trees tearing at his clothes and nipping at his skin. He didn't stop though, he had to get back to Mystic Falls. There were people who needed him. As he got closer and closer to Mystic Falls he became less and less enamered to run until he was just walking like an average joe through the forest.

Damon didn't quite know why he had stopped running at such a dire time and neither did he bring himself to care. He knew this feeling; it was familiar and oddly welcomed. He felt numb and uncaring as he strode through the streets of the small town before reaching the hospital.

The eldest Salvatore figured he might as well put on an act at least, as he neared the hospital steps, he broke into a human run. Bursting through the doors he quickly spotted Dr. Fell and figured he'd push it a little more, "Where is she?" Damon demanded, "Where is she!"

"Damon," Meredith said quietly, trying to calm the seemingly frantic Salvatore, "I helped her. When she was brought in earlier she had a bleeding in the brain. I helped her, Damon."

Damon, still not caring but felt his interest peek, cocked his head to the side. "You did what?"

Meredith gave him the, 'I'm not repeating myself look.'

Damon nodded and gulped, forcing his eyes to get watery before walking away and smirking to himself.

"Damon!" The teary eyes returned, along with the 'someone shot my puppy' look.

Stefan hurried over to his brother, quickly surverying the surroundings before leaning into Damon, "Did Meredith tell you?"

Damon sighed and nodded, "Elena's a vampire."

It was Stefan's turn to nod, when he finally looked up into his brother's face he noticed something _odd. _His eyes were vacant, untouched by any emotion. His face was seemingly wraught with pain and his eyes watery but there was no glow in them. It looked like fog had creeped in and left no room for anything else.

Deciding not to press it, Stefan shook his head slightly. Nodding in the direction of Elena's current 'dead' body, he started walking assuming his brother would follow suit.

Before following his little naive brother, Damon had to think for a second. _Okay, Elena's a vampire. She chose Stefan. I don't give a damn. This should be great fun. _With an eye roll he stalked off after his brother.

Elena was sitting on an autopsey table, hugging her knees to her chest as glittering tears ran down her face. Stefan rushed to her side, kneeling down in front of her and taking her face in his hands.

"Shh, Elena. It's all going to be okay." Stefan pulled her into a hug and she sobbed into his shoulder.

Damon repressed the urge to snort as he watched the two love birds. Elena glanced at him, mouth quivering. He smirked at her, raising a hand to wiggle his fingers in greeting. Elena furrowed her brow, eyes narrowing.

Damon kept on smirking.

"Elena, hun," Elena stopped surveying Damon and glanced at Stefan, "Do you want to complete the transition?"  
Elena's mouth continued to quiver as she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Stefan. I never wanted to be a vampire. You know that. And now. . ." She stopped, sobbing once more as Stefan enveloped her.

Damon did snort this time, a smirk playing on his lips. Stefan turned around sharply, eyeing his brother. Damon raised an eyebrow and opened his arms in mock question. "I'm loving all this touchy feely. Really, I am. But I have places to go and people to slaughter. So, can we get this show on the road?"

Elena emitted a idignant cry and gestured to herself frantically, "I am going to be a _vampire, _Damon! Something I never wanted to be and I could very well choose to die. What is with you?"

Stefan sucked in a breath and let it out in a huffed sigh, "He's turned it off."

A/n: It was requested I continue this. But I have no idea how to go about it.


End file.
